We are excited to announce the release of our most recent live Q&A with Laura Baird to the TOFS video library.
Laura is the Lead Speech and Language Therapist at Cambridge University Hospital and kindly joined us to answer your questions on “Feeding & swallowing issues in children born with OA/TOF”.
We’ve broken the video down into chapters to make it easy to jump to the parts most relevant to you.
00:00 Introduction
00:42 Our seems to have gone off food altogether. Is there a way of knowing whether this an issue with her swallow or a behavioural challenge we need to address?
03:09 Is it normal for children born with OA/TOF to take some time to get their food down?
04:38 Do you know any good resources for babies born with OA/TOF who also have allergies?
05:09 My baby is currently a little off with her bottles, could it be she needs to go up a teat size rather than a medical issue?
07:17 Why are some babies born with OA/TOF automatically given Speech and Language Therapists involvement for feeding and swallowing when other are not?
12:07 Any guidance for an OA/TOF baby with a gastric pull-up who is struggling transitioning from gastrojejunostomy to oral feeds?
16:36 Any suggestions for a premature baby taking up to a hour to feed by bottle and NG (Nasogastric) tube?
21:56 Any guidance on weaning a baby being fed almost exclusively via their gastrostomy tube?
24:03 What can people do at home to help improve swallowing if their child has a problem?
27:04 What is the best way to drink water for a 5 year old who has a problem drinking?
28:58 How do parents progress if their child has plateaued on certain foods still causing stickies?
30:41 What exactly happens when an OA/TOF child has a blue episode during feeding?
32:16 What’s the best way to educate a small child on how to chew and swallow food?
35:13 What are your top tips on starting weaning?
36:58 What is the best practice when introducing finger foods?
38:56 Would you recommend baby led weaning?
40:14 Is there a connection between speech delay and being born with OA/TOF?
42:51 Are feeding issues likely to last my child’s whole life or do things tend to get easier with age/growth?
44:41 Do we have to accept that stickies will always be an issue for babies born with OA/TOF?
